Is Norman Xiong Golf’s Latest And Greatest New Phenom?

Golf is full of the latest hopeful incarnations of Tiger Woods, Jack Nicklaus, Ben Hogan or Sam Snead. The current phenom you’ll need to watch is the Oregon Duck’s Norman Xiong [pronounced Zhong]. He’s long, loud and proud and maybe the incredible marketing package golf can always use to promote and inject some added pizazz to the game.

GolfChannel’s Ryan Lavner profiles the young lad who appears to possess all the goods. I sure hope so.

In the summer of 2014, Oregon was coming off another successful season, but Casey Martin couldn’t muster any enthusiasm for the next wave of juniors. No one dazzled him. It was a similarly frustrating start to the AJGA event at Mayacama, as he watched a highly regarded prospect labor through a painful pre-shot routine and then smother-hook his opening tee ball. No, that’s not it, Martin thought. That’s a meltdown.

But then they announced Norman Xiong – a 14-year-old man-child, decked head-to-toe in Nike gear, pushing 6-foot-1 and 185 pounds. In the span of a few seconds, he nonchalantly pegged it, waggled his club and then smoked a 330-yard drive, center cut.

“When you evaluate, you’re looking for a moment of clarity, like, Wow,” Martin says, “and I had that from the very first shot.”

“For his age, it was just so massively different – like that’s the real deal, right there,” Martin says. “I didn’t leave his side. It was selfish, but I just loved watching him play. There was a joy about him, and it was easy. I couldn’t stop watching.”

Xiong’s play during his sophomore season has been so awe-inspiring that college coaches and players are whispering that they’re competing against a future world No. 1. Blessed with a unique combination of power and touch, humbleness and swagger, he’s the most tantalizing 19-year-old prospect in golf since … well, that’s up for debate.

Coach Martin genuinely believes this: “At 19 years old, I think Tiger is the only guy I would defer to as being better than Norman Xiong. I haven’t seen much better than him at that age. He’s really that good.”

He routinely won nine-hole tournaments by double digits. He once shot 29 – with a water ball. Tired of blowing away his competition, he intentionally tried to drop into a playoff by five-putting the final green, except he miscounted and still won by one, leading to a tearful trophy presentation. In such command of his self-made swing, he could pull off shots even when they called out the shape (“Low draw! High cut!”) at the top of his backswing.

But today’s elite players aren’t renowned for their wedge play – it’s for their otherworldly driving distance that puts them in position to attack. Xiong fits the modern prototype, as well. Over the winter, while showing off for teammates, he consistently registered a 133-mph swing speed, 194-mph ball speed, carry distance of 340 yards and spin axis less than 1.

The entire article is worthy of your time as its probably best you get familiar with Xiong.